Roadside Service
by Harpomatic
Summary: Skateboarding AU. After an accident, Cosima learns that occasionally, foul play can lead to some pleasant surprises.
1. Chapter 1

**This idea has been floating around my mind for a** ** _very_** **long time. It'll be updated soon. My other story, Matching, will also be updated pretty soon. Enjoy!**

Cosima was sitting on her board, watching her friends make fools of themselves in the bowl. She toyed with the straps of the worn out helmet sitting in her lap. The park was busier than usual, and she was surrounded by the noises of others: shrieks and yells, wheels rolling on the cement of the bowl. The girl considered joining her friends, but didn't really feel like maneuvering around the several groups of preteens who seemed content to just mill around the ramp's basin, sliding clumsily along until they eventually stumbled off of their board and started the whole cycle over again. She opted to sit and enjoy the sun that was beating down on her. Leaning back on her hands a little, she closed her eyes and let herself take in the noise around her.

She was pulled out of her semi-meditation by a nudge on her left shoulder. She turned to look up at the person, and saw Rudy looking down at her. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses and he wore his typical 'I-look-like-I'm-about-to-do-something-reckless-please-join-me' smirk. If Cosima was being honest, she didn't really like the dude. She liked his brother, Mark, better, and Rudy's kind of reckless was typically malicious, and didn't typically involve kind of youth driven debauchery that Felix and Sarah's recklessness did. She blinked expectantly at the boy, still waiting for him to say something. Rudy motioned to the longboard tucked under his right arm,

"Wanna race?" He asked. Cosima considered it. She didn't really feel like skateboarding anymore, and the idea of long distance boarding was enticing. She liked skateboarding, but that was more Sarah's bag. Her true passion was longboarding. Any day she could experience the thrill of racing down a hill at full speed, tuning out everything but the road in front of her and the dull sound of the board's wheels grinding against pavement was a day well spent. She was inclined to accept the challenge. She'd raced Rudy before. He wasn't bad, but he wasn't as good as her, and he normally fell behind after the first mile or so, which left her free to enjoy a carefree, head-clearing ride to the finish line. Cosima shrugged and looked back up at him,

"Sure. Usual spot?" She replied. The boy nodded, the smirk was still there. "I gotta get my gear. I'll meet you up there in half an hour," she explained while rising to her feet. Rudy just nodded and slinked off.

Cosima weaved around the people hanging out around the edge of the bowl and found Sarah and Felix. Sarah was at the bottom of the bowl, trying and failing to get people out of the way so she could have enough room to skateboard. Felix had long since stopped trying to use the ramp and was standing outside the bowl with his bike, laughing as he watched Sarah shove people out of the way. Cosima stood next to him and called Sarah over to them,

"Hey, Rudy wants to race, so I'm gonna grab my gear out of the car and meet him up at the regular spot. I'll text you when I'm done. If my brother asks, just tell him what I told you," she explained. Sarah creased her brow,

"Rudy? Creepy Rudy?" She asked. Cosima nodded, "That guy's so weird, he always looks like he's up to something," She said. Cosima shrugged,

"He probably is. But, he's always up to race, unlike you two, so I'll power through his icky-ness," she dismissed. Sarah rolled her eyes,

"Alright, well, just don't go getting into any trouble. And make sure to call me as soon as you finish. I don't want you to be alone with that guy longer than necessary," Sarah ordered. Cosima, already walking away, waved her off,

"Alright, mom. I'll be safe."

She made her way to Sarah's car and pulled her longboard and pads out of the trunk, putting her skateboard away. Once she had finished putting her gear on, she mounted her longboard and made her way to her and Rudy's usual meeting spot.

She found Rudy, decked in his protective gear, leaning against a rock off the side of the road, picking at his nails. He nodded at her when he saw her, but didn't move. Cosima appraised her surroundings. The road was clear, which was good. Some days, their course would be crowded with traffic, and Cosima never really liked the feeling of cars whizzing past her, occasionally honking. Cosima had found the road a few years ago and considered it one of her best kept secrets. The road was situated on a hill, well, it was closer to a mountain, but Cosima thought that referring it to as a mountain made it sound more hardcore than it actually was. It wound down the hill-mountain for about three miles, and was steep enough to keep the ride interesting, but not steep enough to make turns impossible. She loved the place.

After another minute or so, Cosima walked back to where Rudy was. He looked up at her over his sunglasses,

"You ready?" He asked, his voice was bored.

Cosima thought it was funny, considering how she always beat him. She nodded and pranced to their starting position. Rudy sauntered behind her. Something about the way the man was acting made her uneasy. He was uncharacteristically relaxed. Cosima knew that was a bad sign, but couldn't determine what exactly he was up to. She figured that she'd be away from him soon enough, and put her gloves on.

Rudy mounted his board and Cosima followed. They situated themselves before they counted each other off, Rudy adjusted his helmet and began,

"One." Cosima made sure her cell phone was tucked safely beneath her thigh guard,

"Two." Rudy looked to the woman at his right,

"Three." Both of them took a deep breath,

"Go!" The two took off down the mountain-hill.

Cosima was ahead, but just barely. Rudy was keeping up surprisingly well, he'd improved since last time. Cosima wasn't nervous, though. She was never too concerned with winning, but she knew how competitive Rudy was. He was almost alarmingly competitive, after losing previous races, he'd thrown his board and yelled until he'd gone hoarse, or until Mark got him to chill out. Rudy's aggression and violent tendencies always reminded Cosima to keep the man at a reasonable distance, and to not get too cocky about her victories. She didn't want Rudy's rage directed at her any more than it already was.

They coasted along in almost companionable silence until Cosima heard Rudy laughing. She glanced quickly over her shoulder and was surprised by how close Rudy was. He was maybe three feet away from her, laughing at something. Cosima listed to the right a little, not comfortable with how close the man was, but as Cosima moved, Rudy moved with her, not letting her put distance between them. Between the near-maniacal laughter and the proximity, Cosima began to get nervous,

"Rudy, what the fuck are you doing, man? You're driving me off the road," she shouted over the wind.

Rudy just kept laughing and continued to close the distance between the two. Cosima let out a scream when the man stuck his arm out and firmly pushed her on the side. The entire world was sent spinning as she toppled off her board. Her body slammed into the gravel and weeds on the side of the road. The last thing she remembered was Rudy's laughter fading into the distance before her head slammed into the concrete, knocking her unconscious.

Sarah was livid. She didn't care about the multiple traffic laws she was breaking as she swung into the motocross track parking lot. She got out of the car so quickly that Felix had to lean over from the passenger seat and turn the car off before following her.

Sarah stormed over to the edge of the tracked and looked around. She spotted who she was looking for about a hundred feet to her left and quickly walked over two the two men, each standing next to a motorbike.

Cal smiled as he saw his girlfriend and her foster brother approaching, but quickly stopped when he saw the look Sarah was sporting. She ignored him entirely as she stared daggers into Mark, who had been talking with Cal,

"Oi! Mark! Where the hell is Cosima?" She barked, shoving the man in the shoulder.

"What?" Both men asked. Sarah took a deep breath and pointed to Mark,

" _Your_ brother challenged _your_ sister," she pointed to Cal, "to a race at their usual spot. She told me she'd call me when it was over so I could pick her up. That was four hours ago. Where is she?" Sarah was shouting now.

Mark put his hands up in surrender,

"I don't know where Cosima is, I swear! I haven't seen Rudy since me and Cal dropped him off at the park this morning," he promised. Sarah looked to Cal to make sure he was telling the truth. The taller man nodded,

"So you haven't seen Cosima in four hours?" He asked. Sarah and Felix shook their heads, "Couldn't she be at Alison's or something? Maybe she went back to her apartment," he reasoned. Sarah rolled her eyes at the man,

"No, I've called Cosima six times, and each time it's gone straight to voicemail. I called Alison, too and she says that she hasn't seen her all day," Sarah shot down Cal's suggestions.

"Shit. Do you think she's in trouble?" Mark asked worriedly. Sarah took an intimidating step closer to the man,

"I don't know, but if I find out that she is, I'm gonna beat your idiot brother into the bloody ground," She threatened. Mark nodded in understanding,

"Well let's go look for her. You and Felix take your car, me and Cal'll take mine. I'll call Rudy," Mark planned, genuinely trying to be helpful.

He liked Cosima, he'd known her as long as he'd known Cal and sincerely hoped that the girl had just gotten distracted after finishing the race and wasn't hurt or anything. Sarah nodded and the group quickly moved into action.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! I'm glad you're all liking this story so far. Feel free to leave a review. I'll have the next chapter up in a few days or so. Enjoy!**

Cosima woke slowly, unsure of her surroundings. The only things she was aware of was the rough gravel and dirt beneath her, the tall grass around her, and that the sky had changed considerably. It wasn't dark yet, but it would be soon. The next thing she became aware of was the pain. She was in excruciating, unbelievable, near blinding pain through her entire body, but it seemed especially concentrated in her left arm and temple. She threw a nervous look down at the arm and groaned when she saw the jagged rut near her elbow. It was broken.

Trying her best to stay still, Cosima looked around for her board and spotted it a couple feet away. Slowly, so, _so_ slowly, she sat up. The slight motion sent her head swimming, but she powered through it. She leaned forward and grabbed her board with her good hand. She turned the board long-ways and used it as a crutch to help herself stand up.

The pain in her temple intensified once she was standing. She swayed a little, but was thankful that her helmet had taken the brunt of the impact. She'd have probably died if she hadn't been wearing it.

Once she was a little steadier on her feet, Cosima used her good arm to reach into her thigh guards and pull out her cellphone. Cosima stared in awe at its shattered screen. She couldn't believe it. The impact had broken her phone. She was going to kill Rudy. _Rudy_. She thought. Rudy had done this to her, Cosima remembered. He had pushed her off the road.

Cosima, still very disoriented, was certain of one thing: she needed to get to a hospital. She took a tentative, shaky step onto the road and immediately found herself in front of a set of headlights.

For a moment, Delphine had thought it was a hallucination. The road was too isolated for there to _actually_ be a person standing in the middle of it. She came to her senses just in time and slammed on her brakes, finally coming to a stop about a foot in front of the pedestrian.

Delphine let out a hoarse, terrified scream, clutching the wheel with white knuckles. _I almost hit a person. I almost killed a person with my car._ She appraised who she nearly ran down.

It was a woman. She was wearing a safety helmet and other protective gear. She braced the hood of Delphine's car with one of her hands, the other hung limply by her side. She was staring at Delphine through the windshield, a stunned smile on her face. The two women made eye contact for a second before Delphine realized that something about the woman was off.

Delphine lunged out of her car and towards the front of her vehicle. The first thing she noticed was the longboard on the ground next to her, she picked it up and stood by the woman, who turned to her, still wearing that dazed smirk, and let out a quiet, "Dude," before she turned back towards the car and threw up on its hood. Delphine let out another shocked scream before she grabbed the woman, who was swaying now, and led her to her car,

"What is your name? What happened?" She asked frantically. The woman was mumbling something, Delphine leaned in close,

"Sarah…" the woman murmured. Delphine opened the passenger door,

"Sarah? Your name is Sarah?" She asked. The woman shook her head,

"Call Sarah," she said, mumbling some more. Delphine strained to understand her, and eventually realized that the woman was listing numbers. A telephone number. Delphine threw the longboard into her backseat and sat the woman in the passenger seat. She took out her cellphone and opened it to the keypad,

"I need you to say that again, please," she asked the near unconscious woman. Her new passenger luckily understood and repeated the numbers, this time slow enough so Delphine could enter them into her phone and dial.

Delphine put her phone to her ear before she buckled the woman in and closed the door. The phone rang four times before a harsh "Hello?" came through the phone line. The woman on the other end was British. Delphine got into the driver's seat and started the car,

"Is this Sarah?" She asked.

"Who's this?" Sarah inquired, her tone suspicious.

"My name is Delphine, I found a woman in the road. She told me to call you" Delphine explained. She could hear Sarah silencing people in the background,

"Cosima? You found Cosima?" Her tone was frantic. Delphine looked to the dazed woman in her passenger seat,

"She has glasses and dreadlocks. I found her with a longboard. Is that her?" Delphine asked.

"Yeah, that's her," Sarah sounded relieved, "is she hurt?" she asked, sounding tense again. Delphine appraised Cosima. _The name suits her_. She had some scrapes where her pads didn't cover her, and the grisly angle of her arm was not lost on Delphine,

"Her arm is broken and she definitely has a concussion, but that's all I can see. She might have other injuries," Delphine described, "I'm taking her to the Regional Hospital, we should be there in about twenty minutes," she expanded. She could hear Sarah speaking to others in the background, but couldn't make out what she was saying. Finally, Sarah returned to the line,

"Put Cosima on," she instructed. Delphine looked to the woman, she was sitting in the passenger seat, staring out the window with a murky expression,

"Quoi?"

"You heard me. Put Cosima on the phone," Sarah ordered. Delphine pulled the phone away from her ear and nudged Cosima with it,

"Cosima," at this, the woman looked to Delphine and gave her another woozy smile, "Cosima, Sarah wants to talk to you," she explained. Cosima took the phone with a shaky hand and brought it up to her ear. Delphine kept her eyes on the road and didn't even try to not eavesdrop on the girl's conversation,

"Hey Sarah, how's it going?" Cosima asked, far too casual for the situation. _It's probably the concussion_. Delphine couldn't hear what Sarah was saying on the other end, and had to fill in the blanks with Cosima's responses, "Nah, I'm good. I feel fine, just a little banged up." Delphine shook her head at the woman's sugarcoating, "Well, me n' Rudy were racing, and I look over and he's like _right_ next to me," Cosima continued as enthusiastically as she could in her current state, "and then he sticks his arm out and _WHAM!_ I fly off the road, hit my head on something super hard and pass out for a while, no big deal," Cosima pauses as Sarah says something loud enough that Delphine can hear her voice, "and yeah, I come to a few hours later and this _super_ nice lady picks me up and puts me in her car," Cosima finished. She looked over to Delphine in the driver's seat before whispering into the phone, "She's cute, too. Like, hella cute. I can't wait for you to see her," she said louder than she probably thought she did. Delphine blushed a little and focused more on the road. After a few more seconds Cosima held the phone out for Delphine to take. Delphine took the phone to her ear and was greeted by Sarah's gravelly voice,

"Alright, we'll see you at the hospital," Delphine didn't know who Sarah was referring to by ' _we'_ , but she assumed it was the people in the background that the woman had been shushing the whole time. Delphine didn't have time to respond before Sarah hung up, leaving Delphine in silence.

She looked over to Cosima and found her dozing off. Delphine nudged the girl on the shoulder to wake her. Cosima looked at her with foggy eyes. The look Cosima gave her sent a wave of _something_ through her body. _Sympathy? Affection?_ Delphine didn't have time to sort it out,

"You can't fall asleep. You might have a concussion," she explained to the injured girl. Cosima nodded in understanding before closing her eyes. Delphine nudged her again and reminded her once more of her concussion. Cosima nodded again, but still tried to fall back asleep. Delphine sighed as she realized that the words weren't getting to Cosima, and she continued to try to keep the woman conscious the entire way to the hospital.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys. Sorry it's been so long since the last update. I hope you like this chapter, please feel free to leave a review or a story request. My other story, Matching, will be updated very soon. Enjoy!**

Delphine pulled into the hospital parking lot after twenty minutes of urging her passenger to stay awake. She parked in a spot as close to the door as she could and after turning the car off, she trotted to the passenger side and opened the door. Once she had unbuckled Cosima and pulled her out of the car as gingerly as possible, it became clear to Delphine that the injured woman, who was swaying on her feet, a distant look in her eye, would not be able to walk the thirty feet to the entrance by herself.

Delphine started out with one her arms slung over Cosima's shoulder, taking most of the shorter woman's weight. After a few steps, Cosima began to slouch more and more until Delphine could no longer hold her weight at that angle. The blonde stopped for a second to strategize. Eventually, she decided that the best way to get the incapacitated woman through the door was to carry her in probably the most ridiculous way possible.

And that's how Delphine entered the hospital. Cosima's back pressed into her chest, Delphine's arms looped under the shorter woman's. She walked backwards slowly, trying to keep her momentum in check and Cosima's dreadlocks out of her face. She had no sooner dragged Cosima into the waiting room when she was surrounded by people, none of them hospital employees. Before she had time to react to the crowd of people around her, Cosima was pulled away from her and into the arms of a tall bearded man who immediately stalked off to the front desk, followed by another man and an angry looking woman. There was still one man standing in front of her, he had short, meticulously styled brown hair. His lips were pouted a bit and he looked Delphine up and down appraisingly,

"You're Delphine?" He asked in a slight accent. Delphine nodded and shifted uncomfortably on her feet, a bit uneasy under the man's scrutinizing gaze. She was also a bit curious about where Cosima had been carried off to,

"Ehm, yes. I found Cosima," she explained distractedly. She turned her head back to the front desk and saw the bearded man still holding a dazed Cosima. In front of him, the woman was explaining something rather emphatically to the nurse at the front desk. Off to the side stood the third man. His nervous eyes flitted from Cosima's limp body to the angry woman beside him.

Delphine was about to join them at the front desk when the man grabbed her by the arm,

"I wouldn't go up there. It's best to just stay back when Sarah's in 'mom-mode,'" he interjected. Delphine looked back over to the woman, whose arms were gesturing to Cosima. She looked back to the man,

"That is Sarah? The woman I talked to on the phone'?" She asked. The man nodded,

"Yeah, her and Cos have been best friends for years," he informed, "the scruffy guy carrying her is Cal, Sarah's boyfriend and Cosima's older brother. He's the quiet type, if you couldn't already tell," the man continued. Delphine looked back at Cal, who was watching Sarah interacting with the nurse. He seemed rather used to his girlfriend's aggression. He watched her passively, answering whatever questions Sarah threw his way. Delphine turned back to the man, "The nervous wreck is Mark. He's Cal's best friend and his brother's the one who pushed Cos off the road, so he's probably scared for his own life right now," the man chuckled a bit, apparently amused by Mark's anxiety. Mark was wringing his hands nervously. He had migrated over to Cal, and more specifically to Cosima. Mark was looking at the girl, muttering something and smiling nervously. Delphine could just barely see Cosima return that smile from where she was standing. It looked like the injured woman was trying to shrug. Something about the action brought a smile to Delphine's face. She was content to watch Cosima smile dopily until her unofficial tour guide cleared his throat, calling for her attention, "And I'm Felix, Sarah's foster brother. I'm glad you found Cosima when you did. I thought Sarah was gonna hire a bloodhound or something to sniff her out," he joked.

Delphine nodded a bit before she looked back towards the front desk. It looked like progress had been made: the nurse had handed Sarah a couple of clipboards and was explaining something to her. Sarah turned on her heel and walked over to the waiting area. She gave Mark and Cal a look, seemingly giving them permission, before she sat down in one of the chairs, followed by the two men.

Delphine and Felix approached the other three. Cal had placed Cosima into a chair and Delphine settled into the chair next to her. She wasn't quite sure why she was still there. Surely Sarah and the others could manage signing Cosima into the hospital and taking her home once she had been treated, but something was keeping her in that waiting room. Perhaps it was the fact that she had not yet spoken to Sarah, and it seemed almost impolite to not at least elaborate a little more about how she found Cosima. But it was probably the weight of Cosima's head on her shoulder that kept her there. The injured woman had nestled her face into Delphine's shoulder as soon as she had sat down. Cosima let out a drowsy chuckle, the heat of her breath on her neck sent a soft shudder through Delphine. Cosima looked up at Delphine,

"I'm in a lot of pain," she whispered conspiratorially, laughing some more. Delphine smiled back, amused by her new companion's positivity. She didn't know what compelled her to wrap an arm around Cosima's shoulders, giving her a sympathetic pat on the bicep, but the way the shorter girl leaned into her side some more told Delphine that it had been a good call.

Delphine looked around at Cosima's friends. To her right, Cal and Sarah were busy filling out the forms they had been given. Across from her, she found two sets of eyes on her. Mark was watching her and Cosima with a look of… _relief_? Felix, on the other hand, was watching them like they were his favorite television show: eyes wide and focused directly on where Delphine's arm touched Cosima's shoulder, his lips were pulled into an excited smile. Delphine looked down at her shoes nervously and focused on the sounds around her.

She had almost fallen asleep, it would have been understandable if she had, she'd been in classes all day and it was late enough already without the added exhaustion of almost hitting a person with her car and then driving that person to the hospital. She was drifting off when a gravelly voice called for her,

"Delphine? You still with us?" The accented voice called. Delphine jolted a little, careful not to move Cosima too much, and looked over. Sarah was finally speaking to her. The woman's stare was intense. Delphine cleared her throat,

"Yes. Sorry, uh, it's been a long day," she apologized. Sarah just shrugged,

"So, you're saying you found Cos on the side of the road?" She questioned.

"Well, she was standing in the road. I, uh, I didn't see her right away and I almost hit her, actually," Delphine admitted with a nervous laugh. Sarah's face didn't budge and she moved on to the next question,

"Did you see anybody else around? Somebody who looked like him?" Sarah pointed to Mark, who averted his gaze. Delphine shook her head. Sarah sighed in frustration, "We haven't been able to find him all day. He's probably hiding out somewhere," Sarah explained. Delphine cocked an eyebrow,

"Why don't you just call the police on this man? He assaulted your friend, they could do something about it," she asked. Cal let out a snort at the blonde's question. He looked around at the people in the group,

"Yeah, I don't think anybody here wants to get anywhere near a cop. Our report would just devolve into a poker game of "who's done more and worse illegal shit" until we were all in handcuffs. We'd rather keep it between us and settle it like true petty criminals," Cal explained. Delphine's eyes widened in shock.

She didn't have time to respond before a nurse called for a Cosima Niehaus. _Niehaus. Is that German? It's a nice name_. Cal stood and picked up his sister. He carried her up to the front desk where another nurse was waiting with a wheelchair. Cosima woke up from the commotion and seemed to understand what was going on. She pointed to Delphine from across the room and said in the most powerful voice she could muster,

"Stay there," she was wheeled away immediately afterwards. Delphine watched her disappear down the hallway. She took her new friend's request seriously and settled further into the waiting room chair.


End file.
